UNITED NATIONS: Pakistan’s newly appointed Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Syed Haider Shah, presented his credentials to UN Secretary General António Guterres at the organisation’s headquarters in New York on Tuesday.
During the meeting, Ambassador Shah reaffirmed Pakistan’s commitment to multilateralism, the UN Charter and the organisation’s efforts to promote international peace and security, sustainable development and human rights.
He also conveyed greetings from Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar. Guterres reciprocated the greetings and appreciated Pakistan’s positive and constructive contributions to the United Nations.
Ambassador Syed Haider Shah, the newly appointed Permanent Representative of Pakistan to the United Nations, today presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.
On the occasion, Ambassador Haider Shah conveyed the greetings and best wishes of the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister/Foreign Minister of Pakistan. He reaffirmed Pakistan’s steadfast commitment to multilateralism, the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and the work of the United Nations across its three pillars of peace and security, sustainable development, and human rights.
The Secretary-General reciprocated the warm sentiments and expressed his deep appreciation for Pakistan’s positive, active and constructive contributions to the work of the United Nations.
— Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the UN (@PakistanUN_NY) November 3, 2026
A senior career diplomat, Ambassador Shah previously served as Pakistan’s ambassador to the Netherlands from March 2025. He also held diplomatic assignments in Nepal from 2020 to 2022 and at Pakistan’s High Commission in New Delhi from 2016 to 2020, where he served as deputy head of mission and acting high commissioner.
Shah has extensive experience in multilateral diplomacy and international law. From 2008 to 2013, he served as a legal officer at the UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate in New York.
Earlier, from 2002 to 2006, he was posted at Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the UN, where he covered the General Assembly’s Sixth Committee and participated in negotiations on resolutions of the UN Security Council and General Assembly.
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He also served as additional secretary for UN and Organisation of Islamic Cooperation affairs at Pakistan’s Foreign Office from November 2022 to February 2025.
Shah holds an LLM from Harvard Law School and an LLB from Khyber Law College, University of Peshawar. He also obtained a postgraduate diploma in international law from the Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University, The Hague. He co-authored a research paper on the legislative powers of the UN Security Council, published in 2005.
Shah succeeds Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad, who completed his two-year assignment as Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN last month before taking up his new responsibilities as Pakistan’s foreign secretary. Ahmad paid a farewell call on Guterres on September 30.
